The use of hinge assemblies to pivotally connect a panel, such as a hood or bonnet, to a vehicle body, is well known. Some hinge assemblies known for use in connecting a hood to a vehicle body are operative to allow movement of the hood relative to the vehicle body in more than one way, i.e., in at least one direction or degree of movement additional to the standard opening and closing movement of the hood. An example of such a hinge assembly is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,941 to Orlando, which discloses a hinge that provides for forward movement of a hood with respect to an automobile body in addition to standard upward and downward movement of the hood. Other types of hood movement with respect to the vehicle body in addition to standard upward and downward movement are known to those skilled in the art.
Known hinges, however, do not adequately address the need for multiple modes of operation. In particular, there is a need for improved hinges that serve to hingedly mount a motor vehicle hood or other body panel during normal operation, and to facilitate absorption or dispersion of the energy of impact in the event of certain impacts against the mounted body panel. In certain types of vehicle collisions, force is applied to the hinge assembly mounting a body panel. Typical fixed hinge assemblies do not adequately absorb or distribute the energy of impacts.
It is therefore an object of the present disclosure to provide new and improved hinge members and hinge assemblies. It is a particular object of at least certain embodiments of the hinge assemblies disclosed below to facilitate vehicle body panel mounting, especially hood mounting, with good energy management.